As I was falling asleep last night, a thought popped into my head. I'm really looking forward to nursing another baby.
What the heck?? When did that happen? Before I got pregnant with T, I was thinking "you want me to do what?! And that's her only food source? Who thought that was a good idea?" I thought I'd have to sequester myself in a dark room somewhere and never leave the house.
One of the first questions I asked our prospective pediatrician was her thoughts on breastfeeding because I wanted to gauge whether she was going to harangue me or guilt me if I wanted to quit. (She did not, and she has been awesome in every way. She said she asks new moms to try to give it a month, and that was a good answer in my book.)
It took us a long time to get the hang of it. I didn't like it at first. I set small goals for myself - make it through the first day, three days, a week. Then 2 weeks, a month, and before I knew it, we got to that magical time when it was actually *easier* to nurse her than sort out a bottle. And she got so efficient, we'd be done in less than 10 minutes and I lost my leisurely Facebook/NYT reading time. Heh. I was all set to quit at a year, but T got sick for the first time right around then, we had two trips planned, and we were still navigating her dairy allergy, so she nursed until just short of 14 months. I never imagined making it for that long. When we quit, we were both ready - not a single tear was shed and she never asked about it (ok, that made ME a little sad inside, I'll admit!).
I even got brave enough to nurse in public, sort of. I could do it in the car, or at other gatherings with mamas and babies. I never managed to get comfortable nursing in a random public place like a restaurant but I suspect Baby X' will be nursed wherever we happen to be, since we'll be out and about more.
So maybe I'm remembering those blissful, easy days of nursing in bed for 10 minutes and going about our business. When it's 4 hours a day, it probably won't be so awesome. But oddly, I'm still looking forward to it.
But there is nothing in this world that will make me look forward to pumping again. Blech.
I suspect you're right! My baby #2 was nursed much more bravely and in public than my first, out of necessity. And I also looked forward to nursing another one. Especially when your time is divided between two kids, you might savor those cozy nursing times even more!
ReplyDeleteHah! I hadn't thought about the idea of "forced quiet time". I suspect I will like that too.
DeleteWith baby 2 you get out much more. And u end up feeding then and diapering them any and everywhere. I seriously loved the 2am feeds though. That's when the house used to be quiet (finally!) and I used to stare at her and think how perfect she is...
ReplyDeleteYep, my husband just reminded me that we would need to carry diapers, wipes, clothing EVERYWHERE again. We've been so spoiled with our 2.5yo - I can't remember the last time I had to change her in public :D
DeleteI'm looking forward to bf again too. It's tough for me the whole time (always engorged), but you gain quiet and closeness with the little one that I miss. The first month is going to be rough getting into the groove again, but at least I know it does become routine.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I was just telling a friend that if we could skip the first 3-5 weeks of having a newborn, I'd be all set :) OTOH, I'm going to pump like a madwoman starting pretty early so I can have a hefty stash for when I go back to work.
DeleteI love nursing. I'd nurse other people's babies if I lived in an area where I could do that.
ReplyDeleteWhy? Because I don't have any PCOS symptoms while I'm nursing. I'm skinny without effort and healthy and don't get any of my regular other unpleasant PCOS side effects (though I suppose I'd be just as happy without regular periods...) when nursing. It's awesome. Yup, I'm totally selfish. (He stopped sometime around 2 years 9 months... basically just forgot how after gradually dropping down to once a day or so.)
THAT is awesome. My doc is convinced that nursing "fixed" my PCOS as my cycles returned like clockwork after nursing T.
DeleteIt didn't make me skinny, sadly, but I did get really close to pre-preg weight fairly effortlessly.
Encouraging post - I don't hate nursing, but I don't quite love it yet. (I'm still in my baby's first month and it seems like he is feeding constantly.)
ReplyDeleteHey so what pump do you use? I haven't got the hang of mine yet (it's a manual one, a Philips Avent).
Hey Suz!! You're doing WAY better than I was at one month in - I still hated it and it hurt at that point, so go you!
Deleteif you're serious about pumping/storing milk, definitely get an electric pump. I had a Medela Pump in Style which I inherited from Jasmine - it was 5 years old when I got it and still worked *great*. I'm hoping it's still good. Since I was also pumping at work, I bought another one - the Ameda Purely Yours, which I liked a lot too. This meant I didn't have to drag the pump back and forth. Some of the attachments were different but the collection bottles were interchangeable.
or, i'm guessing that the Swedish health care system may let you rent a hospital-grade one for free? at any rate, the manual one is way too much work - I just had it as backup in case the electric broke and I really needed to pump. I think I used it once...
great post! i feel the same way. :) i nursed sky for 22 months and couldn't believe we made it that long but the first few months were a nightmare...and i pumped at work for what seemed like EVER....i can't image doing it all over again but in some weird twisted way, i do look forward to it a little. :)
ReplyDeleteOh man. The PUMP. I exclusively pumped for Iris and hated every second of it. Just hate.
ReplyDeleteI nursed Ezra and found it so...convenient. "Hey! You're hungry! Hold on a tic!" Because, like you said, there were no bottles and whatnot to think of.
OMG,pumping exclusively sounds really, really hard.
Delete"I suspect Baby X' will be nursed wherever we happen to be, since we'll be out and about more."
ReplyDeleteThat's great! BTW, one of the many cool things about living in Washington State is that nursing moms' rights to breastfeed in any place of public accommodation are recognized and protected as human rights. If any employee tells you to cover up or go elsewhere they can be fined.
Wow, cool. I knew there were laws but wasn't sure what they were exactly :) Awesome.
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